434 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



(II. Snout short, and rather obtuse.) 



Raia maculata.* — The Spotted Ray. 



Specific Characters. — Upper surface smooth, marked with distinct, 

 roundish, dusky spots. (Plate XLII.) 



Description. — From a female specimen eighteen inches in length, 

 tail included. Form of the body more strictly rhomboidal than that 

 of the last-described species ; from the tip of one pectoral to that of 

 the other, about equalling the space between the point of the snout, 

 and half-way down the tail ; from the point of the snout to the tip 

 of the pectoral, from thence to the end of the base of the anal; about 

 equal ; from the base of the anal to the tip of the tail, nearly equal- 

 ling the length of the body ; from the tip of the snout to the tempo- 

 ral orifices, one-sixth part the length of the whole, tail included. Co- 

 lour of the upper surface reddish-brown, marked with a number of 

 large, dusky, brown spots, particularly on the pectorals. (" A variety 

 is not uncommon in which the usual spots are nearly obsolete, but 

 there is more or less trace of one oscillated spot in the middle of each 

 pectoral. Montagu has noticed two kinds of this last variety, one 

 with a large dark spot surrounded with a white circle, the other with 

 a black spot within a white circle, the whole surrounded by five 

 equidistant dark spots. Another variety is in the museum of the 

 Cambridge Philosophical Society, in which the upper parts are pale 

 orange-yellow, with light, rufous, brown spots." — Jenyns.) Under 

 surface white ; snout obtuse, scarcely projecting beyond the margins 

 of the pectorals ; the outline of the anterior part of each pectoral, 

 sinuous; the posterior part rounded; ventrals small and narrow, 

 about three times longer than their breadth, situated between the 

 termination of the pectorals and the commencement of the anals, 

 composed of five rays, of which the second is rather the longest. 

 Anals about three times broader than the ventrals, each rounded at 

 the outer margin, and terminating in a free point below, composed 

 of seventeen rays ; dorsals small, two in number, situated at the 

 lower part of the tail, and at a little distance from each other ; both 

 nearly of equal size and rough to the touch, rounded at the posterior 

 margins, furnished with a reclined ray from which arise seven smaller 

 ones ; caudal rudimentary, about half the length of the second dor- 

 sal. Eyes rather small ; temporal orifices larger, one placed at the 

 outer and posterior part of each orbit ; mouth placed on the under 



* Raia maculata, Yarr., Jen., Mont. Raia rubus, Don. Homelyn Ray, 

 Hommclin, Sand ray, The Home. 



